Recent research by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and non-profit Coding Black Females has revealed that thousands of Black women are “missing” from the UK’s tech landscape. This comes despite the fact that companies with ethnically diverse teams outperform their less diverse peers financially by 36%, according to McKinsey.
Unfortunately, other markets are seeing a similar trend, with only 17% of all US tech leadership positions being held by people from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to Colorintech. And only 5% of senior corporate leaders or executives across all industries in Australia have a non-European or Indigenous background, as reported by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Companies, especially those operating in tech, could be doing more to attract a diverse pool of candidates, thus boosting innovation of their products and services by bringing much-needed fresh perspectives on board. If you’re looking to boost your diversity hiring, here are four proven and actionable tips that you could implement into your processes.
4 ways to boost your diversity hiring practices
1. Practice compassionate leadership
Compassionate leaders promote and foster diversity and inclusion by recognising that all individuals will have their own unique challenges, views and experiences. They take the time to listen and tailor initiatives and policies to actively support employees in the way they need.
“We often make the mistake of assuming that our employees leave because they are better paid elsewhere. While this is true for some, it’s also true that people want to belong to an environment where their voice matters, their contribution is valued and where they can see clear career progression opportunities ahead of them. Taking up a better offer elsewhere is often the result of these expectations continuously not being met in their current workplace.”
Jon Flaherty, CEO—Americas, Revolent Group (quoted in Forbes Technology Council)
In fact, as many as 90% of US workers surveyed by EY believe that empathetic leadership increases job satisfaction. A further 79% believe that it also decreases staff turnover. The same survey also reported that roughly half of the respondents chose to leave their role because “their boss wasn’t empathetic to their struggles at work or in their personal lives.”
By practicing compassionate leadership, employers listen and create solutions with employees rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. This kind of open communication can be enormously helpful for employees in alleviating some of the strain they are under.
2. Offer improved workplace flexibility
Previously, most organizations offered remote work as a much-desired perk, but almost overnight it became the lifeblood that kept businesses going through these challenging times. From a hiring perspective, this has allowed companies to consider and attract candidates from a much wider catchment area, and access a far richer talent pool.
For flexible working to be effective, it needs to be baked into your company’s wider plan and corporate values, and that needs to be communicated effectively across the organization. All employees, from C-Suite down, need to be able to see how it marries up with your objectives and vision.
“An organization committed to diversity and inclusion should consider designing all new roles with flexibility in mind, and advertise all roles as open to flexible working. It opens up your organization to a whole new talent pool and sets you apart as a forward-thinking, inclusive employer.”
Nikki Slowey, Co-Founder and Director, Flexibility Works
As many as 9 in 10 employees now expect some level of flexibility over where and how they choose to work, so having flexible policies is crucial if you wish to attract a diverse pool of candidates who may not otherwise be able to commute to your office due to distance or accessibility needs, for example.
However, there are growing concerns that hybrid work environments may pose a new challenge for inclusivity due to ‘proximity bias.’ This refers to staff who are seen face-to-face in an office being given preferential treatment to those who work remotely due to an unconscious bias.
The best way to tackle this is by making your managers aware of the bias and implementing a system of tracking and measuring progress and the value that each employee brings to the business which isn’t solely based on a manager’s feedback. Establishing clear career progression routes across your organization can also go a long way.
3. Write gender-inclusive job descriptions
While it might seem like a minor detail, the impact of the language you use in job descriptions is major. Your choice of wording in a job advert informs a candidate’s first impression of your company, and your success when it comes to attracting more diverse applicants depends a great deal on that initial impression.
The way an ad is worded can have a significant, positive impact on the ratio of female to male applicants, while the inclusion of certain words, generally viewed as masculine, simply put women off applying. For example, words like ambitious, boastful, workforce, dominate, and hierarchical could make women think twice before applying – yet these are all quite commonplace in job ads.
An insightful study by the writing platform Textio looked at almost 80,000 vacancies, and the results are well worth studying. One of the big takeaways was that the inclusion of certain words that are viewed as masculine did in fact deter female applicants. And when the Australian firm Atlassian implemented changes based on Textio’s research, they experienced an incredible 80% boost in female technical hires—a huge accomplishment by any standards.
4. Bring in a diversity hiring partner
There’s a distinct requirement for more fluidity in talent acquisition and an increased commitment to fostering the innovation needed to build a more agile and diverse business.
As talent creation and diversity hiring specialists, Revolent has seen an increase in the number of people looking to add new in-demand cloud skills to their resume, from a wider range of backgrounds than ever before. Through working with Revolent, companies can gain access to new and different ideas that come from having a broad mix of people at the table.
The global shift to remote working, coupled with the increased availability of flexible work options, offers employers a valuable opportunity to really hone in on their diversity and inclusion efforts and build a better, fairer workplace for all.
